Drowning in the Sorrow Called Love
by Sasu-Shinigami
Summary: There was once a beautiful lake with a man-eating monster lurking underneath, luring people with false beauty and such. Or so the story said.
1. Prologue

**Notes**: This fanfic is based on a Monster!Himuro x Mibuchi fancomic. Sadly, the original comic has been deleted 8,) But if you want to see it, message me ^^

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_There was once a beautiful lake with sparkling clear water in the deepest part of the forest. But you should know that its beauty was just a mask, just to conceal the horror lurking under the deep lake. Sharp teeth and claws were waiting patiently for any unfortunate men to come. Their eyes were pure black like their souls and men would see their greatest nightmare when they looked at them. However men became smarter and warned each other. The monsters were smarter so they found a way to lure fools. Through singing with the voice that would bring all singers and birds to shame. Or through the false beauty that was said to be in par of gods and goddesses. Men became foolish when their eyes and mind were clouded by these lies and so the clear water slowly turned crimson. Bite. Chomp. Chomp. Crunch. Gulp. Bite. Chomp. Chomp. Slurp. Crunch. Crunch. Gulp. Oh how the monsters love to eat humans. Old and young, fat and thin, short and tall, sick and healthy, oh no no no the monsters were not picky with their food. Many fell into its trap and only a few survived and not ended up in the stomachs of those horrible monsters but they never came back in one piece._

_The stories they told were different but everyone was agreed in one thing, that deaths by the monsters wouldn't be quick. They would make sure they tormented you, giving their prey nightmares as they ate them alive. Those who survived had seen their dearest friends died or they had felt the agony themselves. Everybody wanted to kill those monsters. Everybody wanted to live in peace again. But they were afraid, oh how afraid they were! They did everything they could but every day at least someone disappeared and never came back. The villagers became desperate, they became livestock, they accepted their fate and just waited for their death. But they still prayed to Gods, to save them from the terror._

_Gods answered their parents in the form of a brave and kind-hearted warrior. With his loyal companions they marched into the forest. Gods had given them the power to outsmarted all the tricks and baits that the monsters used. Those monsters, knowing the warrior would come set up many dangerous traps along the route as they could be on land but need water to eat and survive. One by one, the warrior's dearest companions died along the way, from a group of eleven only to a group of five. The battle with lasted for 4 days and 4 nights. The brave warrior saw his friends died, finally saw the true horror when he heard the agonizing screams and pleas for death. His heart was slowly filled with anger and grief and that was one and only mistake. Blinded with rage, he charged into the last monster. Blinded with rage, he didn't realize that the monster took one of his companion's weapons, a poisonous arrow. Blinded with rage, the power from the Gods wasn't so powerful anymore. The monster easily tricked the warrior's mind. The poisonous arrow was pierced right through the warrior's heart. Realizing his mistake, the warrior stabbed the monster's eyes, right before he died. The howling sound of that monster was heard throughout the forest, to the village even. It made the villagers shivered but it was also a sign of victory, of the peace they longed for. That day, the lake became red with the blood of the brave warrior and his loyal companions. Black ashes fell from the sky as if it was snow. The monsters were nowhere to be seen but the villagers never saw them anymore._

A small frown. "I thought the warrior is going to kill all the monsters! Did the monsters even die?"

"Monsters don't have always to be killed in a story, Reo." A soft laugh as the rough wrinkled-hands softly patted the young boy's head. "But at least, the village is safe at the end, right?"

"But the last monster is still alive, right? Then the village is still not safe at all!"

"And that's why your parents always tell you not to play in the forest."

"… So this story is real?" The boy moved closer, his voice was slightly trembled now, remembering the description of the monster.

"Hmmm… It might be real. It might be not."

"… Grandma? Will you sleep with me tonight? B… but I'm not scared or anything! I'll protect you from the monsters!"

Another laugh, another pat on the head, and a soft loving smile. "Alright then. Now, let's go to sleep, my dear boy."


	2. Chapter I - Venture

That story was the young boy's favorite, even though he admitted the story scared him but he was just a little bit afraid! Because the young boy was a brave boy, or so he claimed. He told his friends about the tale and found out that they have been told the same tale by their parents or their grandparents or even both! It turned out that the story had been told throughout many generations. By that, the young boy started to wonder whether there was a monster under the lake or not.

As the young boy grew up into a young man, his wonder started to cease and he thought the story was just another bedtime story which only purpose was to scare the children so they didn't go into the deep forest and got lost. The young man didn't believe there was actually a lake monster, that it never actually existed, yet he never went near the lake or the forest, ever.

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"Hey, did you hear about the granddaughter of that grumpy old couple that owns the failing brewery? He claimed that the girl is kidnapped or something."

The young man laughed. "Watch your mouth, they might hear you and hit you with their sticks!"

"Haha, real funny, Mibuchi. But yeah, I think they are just over exaggerate things. That girl is simply running away from the scary grandparents-from-hell."

"Now, now, you really shouldn't say that without any proof, Hayama. Besides, maybe they are scary just because you did something to them." The young man sounded like he would lecture his friend like a mother should but he cracked up a smile.

"But have you seen that she always looks so sad? Such a waste for a pretty face like hers actually and now she is gone for good." His friend sighed as he shook his head and shrugged in an overly dramatic way but still managed to sound passionately sincere.

"You don't even know her name."

"But if she is here, I can ask her and maybe I will have the chance to go out with her."

The young man only laughed as he shook his head after listening to his friend's statement. "Yeah, sure she will."

The young man however agreed that things might be over exaggerated a bit because it was surprisingly not unusual if somebody ran away or even left the village and in some cases, it was related to arranged marriage. The police did try to find her but as most of the town people expected, the girl was never found.

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A little boy was missing, the second son of the family that lived 3 houses away from the young man's. It was summer and the weather was pleasantly warm so the little boy and his friends went to the forest to collect insects. The boys, after feeling bored with their little hunting game, then decided to play hide-and-seek. The tallest boy became the 'it' and found everybody but the little boy. They called out the little boy's name over and over again, telling him that he should show himself up because it was almost past their playtime. They shouted and shouted and even tried to go deeper into the forest but they didn't find him. They became afraid and with tears running on their cheeks, they told the town people about the little boy. All the town man along with the little boy's family went to the forest to search for the little boy but they found nothing. Shouts of the little boy's name were heard throughout the forest that night. The young man, however, faintly heard something else, a voice that was so soft that he could no longer hear it after a few seconds. The young man didn't tell anybody about it.

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With every step, the young man's regret was piling up but he couldn't just turn away and went back to his home. He had suspicion with the voice he heard 8 months ago and he had asked around. He still believed that the monster didn't exist so he still questioned himself why he dared to venture the forest alone. 'I am just going to find out whether there is a lake in the forest or not. Maybe Satoru found it somehow, slipped and then drowned.' he reassured himself mentally over and over again. As he went deeper and deeper, he started to doubt his theory. It was already too far away from the city and he had eaten up all his food stock. He also regretted the fact that he didn't bring enough food but how could he? He didn't know that the forest was this deep!

He spent hours walking, kept walking even though his determination started to fade. It was early in the morning when he went to the forest and it was almost dark now. The sky was red and orange and it somehow spooked him out. He then heard a rumbling sound, not the sound that he heard years ago, this one was more familiar. As he walked faster, almost running actually, the sound became louder and louder.

He couldn't believe what he see, a waterfall. There was a waterfall inside the forest. He had only seen a waterfall once when his parents took him to another city for a family vacation but it was much bigger than this one and the sound was louder, roaring even. He stepped closer to the edge to look down, to see the size of the waterfall. It was a small waterfall, connected with the forest's river. It wasn't even that high, one might say that the children could even learn how to dive here. Underneath him was a lake, a beautiful lake. The water looked almost sparkling in his eyes and when he realized that he could hear the echo of his grandmother's voice when she began to tell the young man's favorite childhood story. Suddenly, he heard rustles behind the bushes. The young man quickly turned his body around and he swore he could hear a vicious growl. Startled, the young man stepped back before he could remember that he was standing on the edge of the waterfall and so he fell. What he didn't expect was how cold the lake actually was and how the lake started to feel like a bottomless lake because it just felt so deep. He drowned deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and everything went black.


End file.
